St Patrick's School (Bryndwr)

School Context

St Patrick’s School (Bryndwr) is a Years 1 to 8 integrated Catholic school which provides education for 171 students. 

The school’s vision is based on the Mercy Sister values which promote the attitudes, skills and knowledge needed for children to become confident, motivated, self-directed, lifelong learners. 

The school’s expectations of valued outcomes include for students to: 

• be confident in their identity, language and culture as citizens of Aotearoa New Zealand
• be socially and emotionally competent, resilient and optimistic about the future
• be successful lifelong learners
• participate and contribute confidently in a range of contexts - culturally, locally, nationally. 

The school’s strategic focus for 2017 and 2018 includes monitoring and evaluating of progress and is linked to the following areas: 

• stewardship
• leadership of conditions for equity and excellence
• educationally powerful connections and relationships
• responsive curriculum, effective teaching and opportunity to learn
• professional capability
• collective capacity, evaluation, inquiry and knowledge building for improvement and innovation. 

Leaders and teachers regularly report to the board schoolwide information about outcomes for students in the following areas: 

• achievement in reading, writing and mathematics
• Catholic special character. 

Since the previous ERO review, a new leadership team has been established and there has been ongoing roll growth. The school has also been through a time of significant change, including managing the re-building of four classrooms, and the strategic alignment of key aspects of the school’s operations. 

St Patrick’s School (Bryndwr) is part of the Waimairi-iri Kāhui Ako | Community of Learning (CoL).

Evaluation Findings

1 Equity and excellence – achievement of valued outcomes for students

1.1 How well is the school achieving equitable and excellent outcomes for all its students?

The school is making good progress towards achieving equitable and excellent outcomes for its students.

Achievement information shows that there have been consistent patterns of achievement over time. Almost all children achieve at or above expectations for reading. Most students achieve at or above expectations for mathematics and writing.

The school places a strong emphasis on supporting positive social and emotional outcomes for all students.  

1.2 How well is the school accelerating learning for those Māori and other students who need this?

The school is making good progress with supporting the students whose learning needs to be accelerated. Since the last review, individual learning plans have been extended and improved. A learning support intervention framework has been introduced that progressively identifies strategies, specific support and monitoring systems for identified students. The achievement of most Māori students continues to be at or above the school’s expectations for effective progress over time.

These approaches and related evaluations are building a useful foundation for the school’s next step, which is to continue to build capability in the acceleration of student learning across the school.

2 School conditions for equity and excellence – processes and practices

2.1 What school processes and practices are effective in enabling achievement of equity and excellence, and acceleration of learning?

The school is continuing to strengthen knowledge and build capability regarding the achievement of equity and excellence for all students.

The special character of the school is reflected in its vision and values. Biculturalism and multiculturalism are visible throughout the school’s practices, and are well-aligned with the special character of the school. The school community values and supports difference and diversity.

Students participate in a caring and collaborative learning environment. Individual students are known as learners and have strong relationships with teachers. Student feedback on learning and wellbeing is sought and valued. Tuakana teina is evident across the school and there are many leadership opportunities for senior students. A range of strategies and resources is used to support students with additional learning needs.

Teachers work collaboratively to develop a shared understanding of teaching and learning. They have good learning relationships with students. Teachers work as a team to focus on and support students with learning and wellbeing needs. They are reflective of their practice and responsive to feedback about ways to improve their teaching. 

School leaders have developed a strong focus on building alignment, consistency and transparency across school systems and processes. They clearly promote professional learning and development opportunities that are aligned to the strategic plan. Leadership is relational, effectively builds capability and provides opportunities for distributed leadership throughout the school. There is clear and responsive communication between school leadership, the board, staff and parents. Parents are welcomed and involved in the life of the school as respected and valued partners in students’ learning.

Since the last ERO review, the board has engaged the support of an external advisor to further improve governance systems and structures. Improved reporting to the board now includes increased student and staff voice. This is promoting deeper discussions among trustees and is enabling them to make more informed decisions. The board is supportive of leaders, students and the parent community. Self reflection is embedded in board practices, and trustees are actively focused on improving learning outcomes for students.

2.2 What further developments are needed in school processes and practices for achievement of equity and excellence, and acceleration of learning?

School leaders and teachers have identified that ongoing work on the curriculum is a priority. This includes promoting opportunities for students to set learning goals to support self-management and self-directed learning, as stated in the school’s vision. 

School data needs to be further analysed and used to:

• inform internal evaluation
• identify groups of priority learners
• report to the board acceleration, sufficiency of progress and achievement trends over time. 

The school’s internal evaluation process is providing better information for decisions around teaching strategies and interventions. The school’s next steps are to ensure that the impact of these strategies and interventions are understood and reported to the board. 

3 Board assurance on legal requirements

Before the review, the board and principal of the school completed the ERO board assurance statement and self-audit checklists. In these documents they attested that they had taken all reasonable steps to meet their legislative obligations related to the following:

• board administration
• curriculum
• management of health, safety and welfare
• personnel management
• finance
• asset management.

During the review, ERO checked the following items because they have a potentially high impact on student safety and wellbeing:

• emotional safety of students (including prevention of bullying and sexual harassment)
• physical safety of students
• teacher registration and certification
• processes for appointing staff
• stand down, suspension, expulsion and exclusion of students
• attendance
• school policies in relation to meeting the requirements of the Vulnerable Children Act 2014. 

Provision for international students

St Patrick’s School (Bryndwr) is a signatory to the Code of Practice for the Pastoral Care of International Students (the Code) and has attested that it is compliant. At the time of this ERO review, there was one international student currently enrolled, and no exchange students. Good systems are in place for supporting the educational and wellbeing needs of the international student.

4 Going forward

Key strengths of the school

For sustained improvement and future learner success, the school can draw on existing strengths in:

• leaders and teachers who promote a caring, positive culture for learning, which builds a strong sense of belonging
• outcomes for children that show consistently good levels of achievement for most groups of learners in the school
• the ongoing promotion of parents as valued partners in children’s learning. 

Next steps

For sustained improvement and future learner success, priorities for further development are in:

• completion of an aligned curriculum
• further analysis of data, and completion of the school’s internal evaluation framework
• strengthening current strategic planning processes. 

ERO’s next external evaluation process and timing

ERO is likely to carry out the next external evaluation in three years.

Alan Wynyard
Director Review & Improvement Services Southern

19 October 2018

About the school